Skullmapping returns with an innovative mapping project: Gallery Invasion

For its execution, This Belgian studio used a Panasonic PT-VZ570 projector in combination with a special Dynamic Projection mirror mounted in front of the projector lens.. Programmable and motorized, the mirror can rotate 270 degrees, as well as up and down, allowing images to be projected throughout the room located in Antoon's gallery in Leuven.

Gallery Invasion is the new project of the Belgian studio Skullmapping, format for Filip Sterckx and Antoon Verbeeck, which once again shows an innovative initiative after the production of Le Petit Chef, which was already reported Digital AV Magazine and that has achieved five million views on YouTube

For this new job, that has allowed them to move from the world of food to that of art, a PT-VZ570 projector has been used Panasonic, in combination with a special mirror Dynamic Projection Institute mounted in front of the projector lens. Programmable and motorized, the mirror can rotate 270 degrees, as well as up and down, allowing images to be projected throughout the room.

This projector has been used because it incorporates WUXGA resolution (1929×1200) and the amount of lumen output appropriate for this space and this type of project (4.800). Besides, They considered that the black levels in projected images are close enough to real black.

Gallery Invasion screens at Antoon's own gallery in Leuven (Belgium). On walls with pictures, the space is used to display your work as an artist. The installation includes a monkey as the protagonist, next to a small miniature character who paints graffiti on the monkey's painting before darting across the room with the monkey behind him. Jumping from box to box, the characters travel throughout the space.

The PT-VZ570 projector has a compact size and offers a maintenance-free lifespan of 7.000 hours. Horizontal correction function, vertical and trapezoidal allows for the angled projections essential to the Gallery Invasion project, with the equipment mounted vertically against the wall.

“For us this is first and foremost a research and development project with which we want to show what this technique allows. In this case, video is more important to us than the live experience, and our intention is to recreate this type of large-scale initiatives for a larger audience”, Explica Filip Sterckx.

PT-VZ570's basic daylight environment function ensures brightness, clarity and sharpness of projected images even in brightly lit areas of the gallery, where works of art are illuminated by spotlights.

“Technically it posed a challenge to me, because I had never worked with a mirror before. This project also represents an advance with respect to what has been done with mirrors, since until now they had been used to project movements around graphics and video, not for a complex animation with characters that need to be at very specific points at very specific times. We have become accustomed to seeing mapping projects projected on all types of objects, but seeing characters moving freely on various walls, ceilings or even floors with a single projector and discreet installation is quite magical”, Philip adds..

Filip used Dynamic Projection Institute's MDC-X media server to program the mirror, so that it replicates the movement prepared in the animation.

Skullmapping also integrated audio into the story, for which they asked the agency's sound designers Roundhouse create sound effects and distribute sound throughout the room when the action moves from left to right. Placing speakers on each side of the room, sound can move around the gallery along with animation to complete the experience.

[vimeo]https://vimeo.com/189192769[/vimeo]